fiction Archives - Page 35 of 47 - Home For Fiction

fiction

How to Write Realistic Characters

June 15, 2019

characters, creativity, fiction, literature, reality, writing

How to write realistic characters is something most fiction writers worry about. This is for good reason. Writing realistic characters, with realistic dialogues and inner worlds, is the key to writing realistic fiction.

Of course, before seeing how to write realistic characters, you should perhaps ask yourself whether it’s necessary for your novel to have realistic characters.

You might find that question a bit odd. Surely, what’s wrong with realistic characters? Why would anyone not want to write realistic characters?

We’ll take a look at this little detail, too. Sneak preview: it has to do with what I mentioned above, referring to “writing realistic fiction”.

After we get that out of the way, I’ll give you concrete tips on how to write realistic characters. Here’s another sneak preview: To write realistic characters, with believable dialogues and rich inner worlds, you must think like them, individually.

(more…)

Review of The Shadow of the Wind

May 30, 2019

Book Review, Criticism

book, fiction, Gothic, literature, review, Spain, Zafón

Some time ago, when I reviewed Michel Laub’s Diary of the Fall, I mentioned how sometimes all the ingredients can be there but the recipe is still a failure. Carlos Ruiz Zafón’s The Shadow of the Wind is somewhat similar, I’m afraid. All the ingredients are there, yes. It kinda works, and yet it doesn’t.

To be fair, I think Zafón’s novel works comparatively better. That is, one can still read it and somewhat enjoy it. However, The Shadow of the Wind aspires to be a Gothic tale. And to this Gothic fiction specialist, it comes off as a failed attempt.

the shadow of the wind review — There is a sustained attempt to present *The Shadow of the Wind* as a Gothic tale, taking advantage of the settings. But although all the checkboxes are ticked, something is amiss.

(more…)

Worldbuilding in Fiction: a Guide

May 2, 2019

Fiction Writing Tips, Writing

fantasy, fiction, science fiction, worldbuilding, writing

Today’s article is a result of a conversation I had with Francis Mont, author of House Arrest. We were talking about worldbuilding in fiction. Particularly, we were talking about the challenges involved in creating an imaginary setting for your science fiction novel.

And so, I decided to write this short guide to worldbuilding. If you’re a science-fiction, fantasy, and perhaps horror-fiction author, this post will interest you.

Interestingly enough, preparing this post required me to ponder on worldbuilding in fiction myself. As a literary-fiction author, I never really had to think about how to worldbuild. So, writing this post made for an interesting exercise.

(more…)